Ex-carbon Secretary Faces 193 Charges Of Forgery And Theft

May 09, 1986|by DEBBIE MOYER, The Morning Call

A former secretary in the Carbon County jury commissioners' office was charged yesterday with 193 counts of theft and forgery in connection with the alleged misappropriation of about $11,000 in county funds since 1983.

Margaret Thamarus of 716 Lehigh St., Jim Thorpe, was arraigned before retired District Justice Andrew Moisey in Jim Thorpe. She was released on her own recognizance.

According to the complaint filed by county Detective John Warkala, Thamarus was charged with 61 counts of forgery, 63 counts of theft by failure to make required dispositions, and 69 counts of theft by unlawful taking. The charges stemmed from 66 alleged incidents between May 11, 1983, and Dec. 17, 1985.

The irregularities were first noticed during an audit of the jury commissioners' office in December by the state auditor general's office, according to Dean D.W. DeLong, county commissioner.

County Controller John Williams was informed, and when the irregularities were confirmed, the situation was reported late last year to the commissioners and county Judge John P. Lavelle, DeLong said.

District Attorney Richard Webb said Thamarus was relieved of her duties in late December, but that charges were not filed until yesterday because an independent audit was performed in addition to the audits by the state auditor general's office and the county controller's office. David Sarkady, a certified public accountant from Easton, was hired by the commissioners to perform the independent audit.

Williams could not be reached for comment yesterday concerning how often his office normally audits the jury commissioners' office.

According to the complaint, the majority of the funds came from 61 checks on which Thamarus forged the signatures of Willard Hill or Jeannette Coury, the elected jury commissioners. Four additional checks were payable to the Jim Thorpe postmaster and were used by Thamarus to secure money orders, according to the complaint.

The complaint said there were conflicting explanations for the use of the remaining check in question, which was the first one in the series. Webb said it was not forged but followed the pattern of the subsequent 61 forged checks.

All 66 checks were issued for relatively small amounts, Webb said, with the largest being for $350. The complaint stated that Thamarus admitted to the judge, and several employees in his office, that she forged the checks and destroyed records, and that she used the money for personal bills.

Webb stressed that there was no involvement of any elected official. Thamarus was hired as jury coordinator in March 1983 but had been a word processor in the jury commissioners' office for several years prior to that. Her responsibilities in her most recent position included preparing checks for all jury expenses, such as jurors' fees, postage and meal expenses, Webb said.

A preliminary hearing will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday before Moisey.